According to Mohammed Bello Koko, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the effective operations of Nigeria’s ports and the maritime industry have improved its revenue generation.
Koko said on Wednesday that the growth were driven by the economic policies of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He said this during a visit to the Lagos ports access roads whose decade-long traffic gridlock was recently cleared by the NPA.
The MD said despite global economic headwinds last year, the NPA succeeded in maintaining momentum to surpass its 2022 performance.
He said, “The implementation of continuous performance improvement measures resulted in unprecedented revenue generation and remittances to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) of the Federation, with revenues steadily growing from N361bn in 2022 to N501bn as of December 2023; and remittances increasing from N93.4bn in 2022 to N131.2bn by year-end 2023.
“Taxes paid to the Government of the Federation also grew at various times in the period under review up to $77.7m and N17.6bn respectively.”
Koko applauded the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola’s leadership and hands for his approach to driving the industry.
According to him, “Sanity has since returned to the ports access roads” as part of Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
The MD assured that the sanity at the ports would be sustained to promote ease of doing business and drive exports to enhance Nigeria’s balance of trade.
Koko emphasised his strategic target set to be actualised in 2024 which includes $1bn worth reconstruction of Tincan Island Port Complex, the rehabilitation of Apapa, Rivers, Onne, Warri and Calabar Port Complexes, New Ports Developments viz; Badagry Deep Seaport, Snake Island, Burutu and Ondo Deep Seaports and the Port Community System (PCS) and the National Single Window.
